My company uses a credit card terminal to process all electronic types--like most retailers. However, because of our OS, we went with a different type of terminal than you might find at most retailers like Walmart or Home Depot. So the process of verifying the purchase amount, swiping, and authorizing payment are a bit different too. The terminals display step-by-step directives so that the customer can know how to proceed. Instead of actually reading the directions many turn into Neanderthals--mashing in the keypad, tugging on the power cord in search of a stylus, swiping their card over and over and over, all while muttering the phrase "why can't they make these damn things all the same?!" or the occasional "they're all a little different". I think we all become Neanderthals when we are accustomed to something and then are introduced change. We like what we like--at least what we think we like. http://hubski.com/pub?id=18703 From a business standpoint, I know the perils of failing to make a product to fit the consumers needs. As a craftsman, I want to make something that I am proud of. I know that the right person will find my product as awesome as I do. However, I am not a craftsman by profession. Anything I make is part of a hobby. I don't rely on "customers" for payment. If I make something for someone it's usually as a gift. If they don't appreciate it they can go fuck themselves and I'll refrain from making anything else for them.
"I've never driven a car before, so I don't see why you should have a steering wheel rather than a steering tiller." A little video history, if you will, that's not necessarily en pointe but still entertaining: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_amZsf8A1Lo "Tags" are not an invention of social media. They are not an invention of Reddit. They are not an invention of Del.I.Cious, they are not an invention of Facebook. They aren't even an invention of Getty or Corbis, who have far more claim to the title than anyone else. They're an invention of Henriette Avram for the Library of Congress, who have been using them since 1968: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARC_standards This isn't a "I'm a neanderthal mashing the buttons" because I'm not used to change. This is a "taxonomy without meaning is useless." It's like your terminals - what sort of pompous, entitled, self-important retailer thinks that I should be required to read directions in order to give them money? I'm the customer. If standards have developed, ad-hoc or otherwise, those who deviate from them are the ones with explaining to do, not those who do not choose to adhere to your whims. Every single person using this site learned the Dewey Decimal System in 3rd grade. Every single person using this site has been involved in some form of categorization or other. And every single person using this site has two things they can follow: users and tags. I can block users. This was suggested, implemented and celebrated. I can't block tags. This has been suggested and the argument against it is "well, everybody else does that, but we want to be different." If you're going to alienate your customers, you need to give them an experience better than what they'd get elsewhere. If you're going to deviate from the norm, you had better be able to provide substantial benefit to put up with the alienation. Putting the brake pedal on the right because it seems like a neat idea and let's see how it works out is not visionary thinking.
In an effort to illustrate further what I'm talking about in regard to the terminals, I'll share with you this candid ditty. Everyday I hear my customer's frustrations. Everyday I also am frustrated with the process of explaining to them the simple process of waiting for the total, agreeing to the amount, and swiping their card....would you believe that even after instructing customers countless times a day how to use them. If I'm making a purchase through them, I will often swipe first and then wait for a total even though I know how to use them. My company isn't as much pompous as it is cheap. The OS that we use was written in the 80's. It infuriates me that they haven't upgraded it or many of the other processes that would be very cost beneficial to fix. But, I'm low on the totem...
Tags, whatever you want to call them, are useful. That's why they've been adopted. This shouldn't be a controversial point. I'm willing to spend a lot of time exploring the best way to implement them, but I'm pretty firmly convinced that a feature that has become commonplace elsewhere shouldn't be treated cavalierly just because we're "trying something new."